On-base plus slugging (OPS) is a sabermetricbaseball statistic calculated as the sum of a player's on-base percentage and slugging average.[1] The ability of a player both to get on base and to hit for power, two important offensive skills, are represented. An OPS of .900 or higher in Major League Baseball puts the player in the upper echelon of hitters. Typically, the league leader in OPS will score near, and sometimes above, the 1.000 mark.

More expansive sabermetric measurements do attempt to incorporate some or all of the above mentioned factors. Nonetheless, even though it does not include them, OPS correlates quite well with team run scoring.

Other sabermetric stats, such as runs created and Wins Above Replacement, attempt to express a player's contribution directly in terms of runs and/or wins. However, a player's OPS does not have a simple intrinsic meaning.

OPS is a convenient but controversial measurement. OPS weighs on-base percentage and slugging average equally. However, on-base percentage correlates better with scoring runs.[2] Statistics such as wOBA build on this distinction using linear weights. Additionally, the components of OPS are not typically equal (league-average slugging percentages are usually 75–100 points higher than league-average on-base percentages). As a point of reference, the OPS for all of Major League Baseball in 2008 was .749.[3]

Bill James, in his essay titled "The 96 Families of Hitters"[4] uses seven different categories for classification by OPS:

Category

Classification

OPS Range

A

Great

.9000 and Higher

B

Very Good

.8333 to .8999

C

Above Average

.7667 to .8333

D

Average

.7000 to .7666

E

Below Average

.6334 to .6999

F

Poor

.5667 to .6333

G

Very Poor

.5666 and Lower

This effectively transforms OPS into a 7-point ordinal scale. Substituting quality labels such as Excellent (A), Very Good (B), Good (C), Average (D), Fair (E), Poor (F) and Very Poor (G) for the A–G categories creates a subjective reference for OPS values.

On-base plus slugging was first popularized in 1984 by John Thorn and Pete Palmer's book, The Hidden Game of Baseball.[5]The New York Times then began carrying the leaders in this statistic in its weekly "By the Numbers" box, a feature that continued for four years. Baseball journalist Peter Gammons used and evangelized the statistic, and other writers and broadcasters picked it up. The popularity of OPS gradually spread, and by 2004 it began appearing on Topps baseball cards.[6]

OPS was formerly sometimes known as "Production." For instance, in early versions of Thorn's Total Baseball encyclopedia, and in the Strat-O-Matic computer baseball game. This term has fallen out of use.

The highest single-season mark for a right-handed hitter was 1.2449 by Rogers Hornsby in 1925, 13th on the all-time list. Since 1925, the highest single-season OPS for a right-hander is 1.2224 by Mark McGwire in 1998, which was 16th all-time.

OPS+, Adjusted OPS, is a closely related statistic. OPS+ is OPS adjusted for the park and the league in which the player played, but not for fielding position. An OPS+ of 100 is defined to be the league average. An OPS+ of 150 or more is excellent and 125 very good, while an OPS+ of 75 or below is poor.

where *lgOBP is the park adjusted OBP of the league (not counting pitchers hitting) and *lgSLG is the park adjusted SLG of the league.

A common misconception is that OPS+ closely matches the ratio of a player's OPS to that of the league. In fact, due to the additive nature of the two components in OPS+, a player with an OBP and SLG both 50% better than league average in those metrics will have an OPS+ of 200 (twice the league average OPS+) while still having an OPS that is only 50% better than the average OPS of the league. It would be a better (although not exact) approximation to say that a player with an OPS+ of 150 produces 50% more runs, in a given set of plate appearances, as a player with an OPS+ of 100.

* - Fred Dunlap's historic 1884 season came in the Union Association, which some baseball experts consider not to be a true major league

** - Ross Barnes may have been aided by a rule that made a bunt fair if it first rolled in fair territory. He did not play nearly so well when this rule was removed, although injuries may have been mostly to blame, as his fielding statistics similarly declined.

If Dunlap's and Barnes' seasons were to be eliminated from the list, two other Ruth seasons (1926 and 1927) would be on the list. This would also eliminate the only right-handed batter in the list, Barnes.